condition (record/cover): NM / EX
Van Tieghem's second solo LP after These Things Happen (Warner Bros., 1984), the first of two for Peter Baumann's short-lived Private Music label (the same imprint that put out Suzanne Vega's Days of Open Hand and a dozen Tangerine Dream-adjacent records). The percussionist had built his reputation through Steve Reich's ensemble (the Drumming and Mallet Instruments sessions), Robert Ashley's Perfect Lives, Laurie Anderson's touring band, and Peter Gordon's Love of Life Orchestra.
Recorded at Battery Sound and Skyline Studios in New York, co-produced with Roma Baran (long-time Laurie Anderson collaborator). The instrumentation reads like a Fairlight enthusiast's wish-list (Fairlight CMI IIx and III, Akai S900, DX7, Korg Poly-800, Juno-60, Voyetra Eight, Linn LM-1, E-mu SP-12) cross-fertilised with Van Tieghem's percussion vocabulary of struck metal ashtrays, plastic milk bottles, Suzuki springs, Japanese stones. Ryuichi Sakamoto plays computer synthesizer parts on two tracks (recorded in Tokyo and shipped to New York on floppy disk); Tony Levin plays Chapman Stick on Night of the Cold Noses.